Understanding Accounts (Essential Managers)

Learn how to understand financial terms and documents and read and interpret company accounts. "Understanding Accounts" not only explains the functions of the profit and loss account, the balance sheet, and the cash flow statement and forecast but also shows how they are constructed and how they fit together to reveal a complete picture of an organization's performance. This title features power tips that reveal how to get behind the figures and understand the true significance of financial information.

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Review:

If you find most accounting guides as complex as accounting itself, you'll love this itty-bitty guide, full of practical techniques that show you how to analyze financial statements, interpret financial data, and measure business performance. On every page, clear text and illustrations cover each aspect of accounting principles and practices, while simple checklists enable you to calculate ratios, identify creative accounting, and make sound financial decisions. And throughout, accessible charts and diagrams explore different options for financial planning and forecasting. Granted, if you're looking for specific or in-depth guidance, you may find this book too general in its approach. But if you're looking for a thumbnail guide to the basics, it'll do just fine.

It's worth mentioning that the book is also part of reference publisher Dorling-Kindersley's Essential Managers series--20 itty-bitty books on business and career topics ranging from communication, leadership, and decision-making to the management of time, budgets, change, meetings, people, projects, and teams. Combining the For Dummies series' talent for breaking down a lot of information into bite-sized bits and sidebars with Dorling-Kindersley's signature, crisp graphics on a gleaming white backdrop, they don't represent the cutting edge of business thinking and they don't necessarily reflect any unique individual perspective.

Instead, it's as though someone collated the best general thinking on these 20 topics and rolled them out into 72 brightly designed and easy-to-read pages, studded along the way with boxed tips, color shots of a multiracial cast of "coworkers" animatedly hashing through the workplace issues of the day, and a self-test of one's skills in the topic at hand on the last few pages of each volume. Again, they're not for anyone looking for in-depth or focused help on any of the subjects they cover, but they're perfect as a quickie general-interest reference... and let's face it, they're so cute, and look so smart in a neat little stack or row, that you'll probably want to buy a whole bunch to give to your entire department or staff. --Timothy Murphy

About the Author:

Stephen Brookson qualified as a chartered accountant with KPMG and went on to work for Ernst & Young before setting up his own management and training consultancy. He has presented seminars and training events in many countries, and he is the author of Mastering Financial Management and Managing Budgets.